2020 The Colorado Health Foundation Impact Piece

THANK YOU We are grateful for The Colorado Health Foundation and our philanthropic community, which has rallied together to promote healthy lives across the state. With your support, we are fueling programs that are making a difference at all stages of life.

We invite you to see the impact of your generous investments.

Thank you for your partnership.

Addressing the Pandemic:

The Community’s COVID-19 Response While 2020 presented many difficult challenges, we celebrate philanthropic partnerships that have continued to drive our work during this time. We are inspired by those who have come together to support COVID-19 relief efforts since last March, giving more than $3.6M. The outpouring of support from the community and our philanthropic partners, including multiple gifts from The Colorado Health Foundation, has been critical in our ability to provide a swift response to the pandemic. These investments have enabled us to protect the health and well-being of the doctors, nurses and other team members who are devoting their time and energy to caring for patients. Funds have also helped accelerate the pace of research for the prevention and treatment of coronavirus. Thanks to philanthropic support, our frontline staff continue to move forward with their selfless work in ensuring the health and safety of our community.

Modeling Efforts at ColoradoSPH The Colorado School of Public Health (ColoradoSPH) is leading important COVID-19 modeling efforts during the pandemic. With the implementation of statewide epidemic modeling, requests came quickly from local public health agencies for a useful tool that would allow leaders to make decisions regarding responses to the pandemic at the county level. In response, Jonathan Samet, MD, MS, dean and leader of the modeling team, sought funding that would extend the previous work that was initially supported by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. That funding, from The Colorado Health Foundation, the Gates Foundation, and an anonymous donor, resulted in the development of the following resources.

COVID-19 Regional and County Modeling The helpful tool used for statewide modeling was adapted to provide estimates for the course of the epidemic in Colorado’s 11 local public health agency regions and in the counties of the Denver Metro Area. These regional and county level reports are posted regularly on the ColoradoSPH website and can be accessed through the Colorado Population Data Dashboard.

Colorado Population Data Dashboard Your investment supported the development and implementation of a website (www.colorado-data.org) that disseminates key information about the epidemic at the county level (see figure for Effective Reproductive Number below). The site was developed for use by decision-makers from state and local levels, and for private citizens who may find the information and models useful. The website brings together data from state and federal public resources on health, economic and epidemic models for the state, and local public health regions and counties. This resource also includes a description of how people move within and across their counties, in addition to unemployment activity at the local level. The first version of the county-level dashboards have been released, and a stakeholder advisory group has been created to collect ongoing feedback in an effort to inform future website development. We anticipate adding mental health indicators to the website and further expansions as we hear from users.

Expanding Telehealth to Reach Communities Thanks to the support of The Colorado Health Foundation, the CU College of Nursing and Sheridan Health Services, were able to expand telehealth before the COVID-19 pandemic began. Your investments provided our healthcare providers with the technology to transition their practice from in-person care to virtual visits.

Since March of 2020, Sheridan Health Services has offered 51% of patients visits via telehealth, because of your support.

We are grateful to have received your funding for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 within Denver and Arapahoe County. The virus outbreaks have disproportionately affected communities of color and socioeconomically disadvantaged communities. It is essential for Sheridan Health Services to remain open and provide quality and compassionate care for those who need it most. Thanks to your generous philanthropy, we can continue to extend vital care and services to the community during this challenging time.

Sheridan Health Services Serves

3,200 patients each year

Services:

Provides

97.3%

patient visits annually

of patients are below 200% of the federal poverty level

14,000

• behavioral health • dental health • outreach • enrollment • pediatrics • perinatal care • pharmacy • primary care • substance use treatment

Creating Inclusive Assisted Living Communities for LGBT Elders In partnership with SAGE Advocacy & Services for LGBT Elders, together we are focused on creating more inclusive assisted living communities for older adults in the LGBT community. Since 1978, SAGE has developed and implemented a number of successful training programs to improve the lives of LGBT elders and create more welcoming organizations. With funding support, SAGE is leading a cultural competency training across six assisted living communities in Colorado, reaching more than 800 staff. The program will be led by Carey Candrian, PhD (Assistant Professor, Division of General Internal Medicine) and Stormie Foust (Administrative Coordinator, Dayspring Villa) and delivered online through Christian Living Communications. In addition, funding is helping SAGE in the early stages of developing an educational video titled, “Opening Hearts and Minds.” The video will feature stories from assisted living community residents, staff, allies and LGBT advocates – locally and nationally.

Staff across the six assisted living communities will have access to this video.

The trainings will cover a variety of topics including: 1

why creating inclusive assisted living communities matters;

2

the importance of cultural humility for creating inclusive communities;

3

strategies to change culture through inclusive communication; and

4

the relationship between inclusivity, health equity and value.

Over 104,690 staff members trained

Credentialled 525 organizations in 48 states

Fostering Resilience in Early Education With support from The Colorado Health Foundation, the Temple Hoyne Buell Foundation and Colorado Springs Health Foundation, faculty within the Rocky Mountain Prevention Research Center are implementing the Fostering Resilience in Early Education (FREE) program. This program is focused on mitigating depression, anxiety and stress that Early Childhood Education (ECE) caregivers face while fostering overall well-being and social-emotional development in children’s’ first five years of life.

The research team, led by co-principal investigators Charlotte Farewell, PhD, MPH, and Jini Puma, PhD, is currently implementing FREE with formal (center-based) and informal (Family, Friend and Neighbor (FFN)) ECE caregivers in 14 counties throughout Colorado. Funding from The Colorado Health Foundation is supporting this work with FFN caregivers, which refers to care given in the home of the child or the caregiver and is provided by relatives, friends, neighbors or nannies. In an effort to adapt FREE to meet the needs of FFN caregivers in El Paso County, Teller County and the San Luis Valley, the research team conducted 20 interviews with FFN caregivers and stakeholders. Additionally, they convened a steering committee, comprised of 17 FFN caregivers and advocates representing these counties. The committee meets quarterly to inform the adaptation of programming, advise on recruitment materials and strategies, and assess program delivery.

FREE is underway with nine cohorts of FFN caregivers and the team expects to reach a total of 100 FFN caregivers in the next year and a half. Process and outcome data are being collected to investigate the feasibility and impact of the FREE program with the FFN community. Your support has resulted in a wider reach and greater impact on FFN caregivers and the large numbers of children in their care in Colorado.

Spotlight: Charlotte Farewell, PhD, MPH Dr. Farewell’s research began with the Culture of Wellness in Preschools program, which was funded for eight years by The Colorado Health Foundation. Currently, she is an assistant professor in the CU Department of Community and Behavioral Health and director of the Population Mental Health and Wellbeing program at the Colorado School of Public Health. She is also the principal investigator and co-principal investigator for numerous grants, including the FREE program. Her work is focused on translating evidenced-based policy, systems and environmental-level changes into practice to improve the mental health and well-being of caregivers and children in early childhood education settings. Dr. Farewell’s interventions are helping to promoting resiliency in minority and lowresource communities.

Moving AHEAD: Advocating for Health Equity through Arts and Dance Our work through Moving AHEAD: Advocating for Health Equity through Arts and Dance began in October 2020. The arts have a powerful impact on equity and health, especially for the social and emotional wellbeing of individuals and communities.

Artists elevate the voice of vulnerable populations with cultural authenticity. However, the arts sector is often overlooked in policy making. In response, we propose an Arts Alliance for Health Equity to engage diverse leaders and organizations.

Together, we will develop arts advocates for health equity and drive public policies that support social and emotional wellbeing and connectedness. We are excited to embark on this work with our community partner, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance, and keep you updated on its impact.

A Community-Based Youth Mentoring Program Through key partnerships with University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS) and stakeholders in the El Paso County Community, Campus Connections provides therapeutic mentoring to youth in middle school and high school who have experienced adversity. This semester, we were able to serve more students by partnering with Atlas Preparatory Academy’s middle school to add our Teen Group program. The program allows a small group of students to experience some of the same relationship building and wellness activities as Campus Connections, but in a shortened time frame. The group is co-facilitated by a current school counselor and a second-year master’s student in the Department of Counseling. In the upcoming spring semester, we estimate that we will have a total of about 25 students enrolled in the middle school and high school programs.

Spring 2020 Teen Group Demographics American Indian/ Alaska Native (6)

Youth Demographics* 70%

50%

20%

White (21)

Hispanic/Latino (15)

Black/ African American (6)

Mentor Demographics*

20%

19%

White (21)

Black/ African American (7)

17%

7%

Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander (5)

Asian (5)

70%

Asian (2)

14%

American Indian or Alaska Native (1)

8%

3%3%

Hispanic/ Native Latino (3) Hawaiian or Pacific Islander (1)

*Numbers add up to more than 100% as individuals were able to pick more than one option.

Reflections from a Mentor:

There has been so much that I have enjoyed about the Teen Group program, but if I had to narrow it down, I have enjoyed my time spent with my mentee.

He is so bright and driven in life. We clicked right away and had a great understanding of each other from the beginning. I have watched him grow so much in the short amount of time that we have been in this program. It is so exciting for me to know where this mentorship can lead. Also, the leadership in this program is outstanding. They are always there to help. It feels more like a family than a program. It’s amazing.

Recent Grants Awarded October 2019 - November 2020

$77,610

UCCS Department of Counseling and Human Services Campus Connections Community-based Youth Mentoring Program

May 2020

$145,677

“We’re Just as Normal as Everybody Else:” Creating More Inclusive Assisted Living Communities for LGBT Older Adults

June 2020

$275,000

Fostering Resilience in Early Education (FREE)

October 2020

$591,537

Moving AHEAD: Advocating for Health Equity through Arts and Dance

November 2020

$25,000

Sheridan Health Services: Increasing Patients’ Access to Rapid Testing

January 2020

Thank You The countless opportunities that you are providing for Coloradans are resulting in healthier communities. Your support is truly inspiring, and your impact is being felt now by many individuals. We look forward to our continued partnership and all that we will accomplish together.